Staff Writer
Aroostook County may have broken the snowfall record, but the dubious honor came with an expensive price tag.
With the blizzard snowstorm last week, the old record of 181 inches set during the winter of 1954-1955, was surpassed. The new season total is 186.3 inches, according to officials at the National Weather Service in Caribou. Records also have been set for below normal temperatures in the last few days, according to NWS officials.
Putting the region over the top was a snowstorm that created havoc on the roads, causing scores of accidents throughout the region, according to Maine State Police and the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department.
State transportation crews started working Wednesday night and many continued working through Easter Sunday to keep roads opens, according to Robert Watson, DOT regional manager.
“DOT did all they could to keep up with it,’’ said Lt. Darrell Ouellette, Troop F commander of the Maine State Police.
Deputy Kris Malmborg of the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department agreed.
“The state was doing a great job of trying to keep up,” Malmborg said. “They don’t get enough credit. We appreciate what they were doing.”
Watson said Tuesday that crews are still working to keep roads clear of drifting snow. For example, on Route 1 between Presque isle and Caribou, there’s a drift that's encroaching in the southbound lane.
Along with the snow removal came a tremendous amount of overtime for the crews.
“Just for the season we have people that are exceeding 400 hours of overtime,” Watson said. “It’s very expensive for the department.”
During the snowstorm last week, the state police responded to 44 storm-related complaints, according to Ouellette. Those included 30 vehicles involved in accidents. No serious injuries were reported, but one cruiser was damaged in responding to an accident.
The most serious accident was a four-car pileup on Bunker Hill on U.S. Route 1 in Bridgewater, caused by a whiteout conditions, Ouellette said.
“We had white-out conditions throughout the county, the most serious were Bridgewater north,” said Ouellette. “Some of the roads were down to one lane. We had trouble getting to accidents because of plugged roads.”
The Sheriff’s Department covered nearly 20 accidents in the central Aroostook County region, including one involving Limestone Police Chief Stacey Mahan. Malmborg said that Mahan, driving a department cruiser, ran into the back of another vehicle during a whiteout.
Along with the excessive amount of snow, weather officials are monitoring the water content of the snow pack. The higher the liquid content the higher the potential there is for flooding when the spring thaw begins, officials explained.
The state is in the upper 25 percentile for water content, which could cause problems if warm weather happened quickly.
“We definitely don’t want to see it go quickly,” said one weather official.
